Measures

We have invested in new cameras, censors and digital software to analyze the collected data. In our farms we continuously measure a range of environmental parameters such as sea temperature, currents, oxygen saturation and salinity. We measure on different depths in the water column so that we quickly can identify changes and implement measures.

Through access to god and precise data over time we hope to be able to reduce the consequences from disease or algae outbreaks. With cameras and high-speed internet access it is also easier to monitor the fish whether you are at the farm, at home or in our new communication center at Eidestøa.

Eide Fjordbruk also participate in a range of different projects focusing on innovation.

• We are a partner-member of NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster located in the ocean city of Bergen, a business cluster for the seafood industry.
• We participate in the cooperation and innovation project KABIS, a project intended to promote and accelerate innovative solutions for more sustainable aquaculture by strengthening the cooperation between business, education, research and government.
• We help test, develop and improve the software Clarify together with other fish farmers in our region.

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Results

We have now installed the necessary infrastructure of electricity, high-speed internet, censors and cameras on our sites. This has been especially useful in the year of Covid, when we had to find new ways to work almost overnight.

So far, we have collected more than a billion data points at our farming sites.

We have also digitized several manual processes such as logbooks, journals and checklists.

As a result, our operators can use more of their time on the most important things, like ensuring that our fish is thriving.

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Measures

To reach our vision of setting the standard for the future of aquaculture Eide Fjordbruk wants to contribute to develop and improve the technology we use for salmon farming in the sea. In addition to the broader innovation- and research projects that we participate in, we also have several internal investments and R&D projects related to new technology.

• In 2019 we invested in tube nets for our largest site, Langøy in Fensfjorden. The tube nets are basically a cage that is submerged below the lice belt with a snorkel or tube that the salmon use to ascend to the surface to fill its swimming bladder with air. The site Langøy was the first complete site with tube nets in a commercial scale.
• Eide Fjordbruk has been granted support from the Research Council of Norway to test a new submerged farming concept with flexible depth and a unique system for filling the swimming bladder without a snorkel to the surface. The project was started in 2020 in cooperation with Selstad and the Institute of Marine Research.
• I 2020 Eide Fjordbruk was granted two development licenses of in total 1,232 tonnes of biomass for the development concept “Salmon Zero”. Salmon Zero intends to develop a fully closed farm in the sea using RAS-technology for water treatment.
• In 2020 we also invested in equipment for fish processing at the farm gate. We believe that this will improve the fish welfare by reducing stress, pumping and live transport, in addition to eliminating waste and mortality in the well boat and holding cage.
• We also ordered our first closed containment cage from the supplier Ecomerden. We look forward to putting it to use in 2021.

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Results

We clearly see that new technology and farming methods provide effect in the form of reduced lice infestations. The tube nets in particular has helped reduce lice infestations significantly and has provided us with unique knowledge and experience.

At the same time, we also see that no technology that we have tested so far provide a 100% protection against lice. As a result, it is still required to have access to, and use, a combination of different preventive and with other measures.

It is therefore still necessary to develop better technology, gain more knowledge and implement better solutions to solve the lice challenge.

We look forward to continuing investing in, and developing, new technology that we believe in also in 2021.

In the early days of the salmon farming industry the feed consisted of mainly fish oil and fish meal produced from wild caught fish stocks. Today, most of the feed consists of plant-based ingredients such as soy, rapeseed and wheat and only a small share of marine ingredients.

This development has been important for the industry, and a lot of work has been done to reduce the dependency of fish meal and fish oil, formerly known as “the fish meal trap”. Fish meal and fish oil from wild caught stocks is a limited resource and cannot meet the demand for feed ingredients for aquaculture.

At the same time there are also challenges in using plant- based ingredients. Marine ingredients is the most natural choice for the fish, and many of the plant-based ingredients has their own challenges to deal with, ranging from deforestation and land use change to erosion and limited freshwater resources.

We want to contribute to develop and test new feed ingredients. We therefore acquired the company Norsk Marin Fisk AS which through its subsidiary Nordfjord Forsøksstasjon AS work on precisely this matter, research and development on new feed ingredients in cooperation with the Norwegian Veterinary Institute and NMBU.

One of the challenges with plant-based ingredients is that these may impact the intestinal health of the farmed salmon negatively. Nordfjord Forsøksstasjon are testing different feed ingredients to discover potential changes in intestinal health, growth rate, feed conversion, lice levels and mortality. The feed ingredients being tested now are different amounts of fermented plant-based ingredients, insect meal and meal from macro algae.

I 2021 our research station on Isane will also be equipped with its own laboratory in cooperation with the foundation Måløy Marine Resource Center. The site will also we equipped with a modern fish farm with integrated feed barge.

Nordfjord Forsøksstasjon recently hired their own PhD candidate, Linn Haug Eide. Linn is from Osmundsvåg in Nordfjord and will work on our feed research while writing her PhD at NMBU.

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